Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!

[SantaMonica]

Update: N and P are invisible:

It's important to know/remember that Inorganic Nitrate and Inorganic Phosphate, which is what your test kits read, and which are also what causes the nuisance algae to grow in your tank, are invisible. You can see the results of the nitrate and phosphate; it's the nuisance algae. But you cannot see the nitrate and phosphate itself. This fact causes the most problems when people see a lot of stuff (food) that their skimmers have removed, but wonder why their nuisance algae is not being removed (skimmers don't remove Inorganic Nitrate and Inorganic Phosphate), and also when their phosphate tests zero, but they still have algae on certain parts of the rocks (the invisible phosphate is coming out of the rocks.)

 

[Ajno]

I'd like to make a bucket algae scrubber for my 125 gallon. Where are you guys buying the light units from? Is there a risk of the lights getting wet and shorting out or melting the plastic bucket?

 

[nolapete]

I found some at KMart. They are for outdoor use and made out of hard green plastic. Much better than the metal fixtures.

 

[SantaMonica]

Yes you should seal the lights/connections with aquarium-safe silicone. Here are some other light options:

Algae require different light than your eyes do. Algae likes a "redder" light. So get a "plant grow" light, also called just a "grow light". Anything from 2000K to 6500K. The cheapest, lightest, proven light would be a CFL floodlight like this:

http://www.buylighting.com/23-Watt-R40-Compact-Fluorescent-Flood-2700K-p/tcp1r4023.htm

It just needs a clip-on socket. It's thin glass is lightweight, so the clip-on won't start slipping down. And it does not require a metal reflector, which is heavy and cumbersome. For a screen 12" X 12", you'd want one bulb per side. For a bigger screen, use two per side.

Next up in power (and cost, weight, and electricity) are the high power CFL's that are specific plant-grow lights, like these:

http://www.stealthhydroponics.com/product.php?xProd=58&xSec=3

And for big screens like 24" X 24", and heavy-nutrient tanks, a mega-power CFL grow-light like this on each side of the screen will work:

http://homeharvest.com/hydrofarmcompactfluorescents.htm (2700K version)

No matter which one you get, replace the bulbs every three months, unless you want to "experiment" with how weak they can get before you have problems.


For those who wish to experiment with LEDs, start out by trying one of these on both sides of your screen:

http://shop.sunshine-systems.com/product.sc?productId=10

 

[Ajno]

I found some at KMart. They are for outdoor use and made out of hard green plastic. Much better than the metal fixtures.

Wow they have Kmarts over there? Thanks, I'll try home depot. So its like a floodlight socket then? Sorry for the dumb questions, was hpoing to get everything locally.

 

[crazy clowntang]

Any1 with soilds results of the scrubber on a FW setup?

 

[Ajno]

Thats what I'm going to find out. I want to get rid of the brown crud in my tank by using this scrubber.

 

[SantaMonica]

Works fine in FW fish-only tanks for removing nuisance algae. May also work in planted tanks if you know how to work your C02.

 

[SantaMonica]

Update: FW cleanings

Pods eating the algae: The reason you need to run freshwater over your screen every week is because you want to kill the baby pods that start to grow and eat the algae. You may not see the eaten areas, unless the algae is very thin like this:

However, pods are always growing and multiplying. And they eat algae. The reason this is a problem is that (1) pods are constantly flowing out of your scrubber into the tank. If they eat algae first, then the nitrate and phosphate that is in that algae gets released back into the water, and (2) you now have less algae to do the filtering. Unlike the picture above, however, the algae is usually too thick for the eaten areas to be seen. The pods stay out of the light, in the underlying layers; so you don't see what they are eating. By cleaning your screen in freshwater, you kill the pods that are on your screen. They will start multiplying again within a few minutes, but at least you can keep them under 7 days old. And even if you clean only half of the screen each week, you still want to wash the whole screen in FW.

 

[SantaMonica]

Successes Update:

sean48183 on the SWF site: "Alright, just tested NO3 and ta da! 0 NO3! Awesome. Still have some hair algae in display, but appears to have slowed down. My scrubber is still getting mostly brown slime and some green. Don't really care. It is working. Have to clean every couple days because it is growing so fast. Anyone who is debating trying -- quit debating and just do it."

ScubaDrew on the RS site: "I built a small one using the basic plans posted in the first few pages. I used a dremmel to cut the slot in the PVC and used fishing line through the small holes in the plastic divider material to hold it up. My tank measured 0’s in all the algae related categories prior to building it, but my tank was still growing a lot of HA and some cyano. I’ve only got one florescent ‘flood’ style light on one side of the scrubber right now due to having placed it in an already crowded sump. I had a full coat of algae in about 10 days, and cleaned off about ¾ of what had accumulated at that time. Now I need to clean off a large, heavy, handful every week! With continued cleaning in my DT, I’ve really made progress in getting the DT algae free. Thanks for the info, I think the ATS will be a part of my system for a long time to come."

RiaanP on MASA site: "Scrubber running now for four weeks. NO3 0mg/l (first time EVER). PO4 between .025 and 0.5 mg/l. 4 weeks ago NO3 was over 100 mg/l and PO4 was over 2 mg/l. So a scrubber really works."